Beasdale

Beasdale is a request stop that was originally a private halt built to serve the nearby Arisaig House. Its former station building is no longer in railway use but is maintained as a holiday home. Beasdale marks a reprieve for locomotives (particularly for driver and fireman in the days of steam power) because it marks a short level section after the gruelling 1 in 48, mile and a half climb from the Loch nan Uamh viaduct. The power demand increased because the climb is made up of several reverse curves which add to the drag. This picture looks back towards the climb and the line can be seen dropping away beyond the platform.

Though just comprising a single platform in a dramatic woodland setting, there was a short goods siding at Beasdale until the late 1980s.

Class 156, Fort William – Mallaig summer service crosses the Loch nan Uamh viaduct and enters the first of four tunnels on the climb to Beasdale.

Glasgow – Mallaig service crosses the Loch nan Uamh Viaduct on a February afternoon. This viaduct is a much smaller example of the mass concrete construction used for the famous Glenfinnan Viaduct.

The ‘Jacobite’ steam train crossing the Loch nan Uamh viaduct in August 2015.

K1 Climbing towards Beasdale, has just emerged from the 3rd tunnel half a mile south east of Beasdale Station

A 4MT (Ivatt) locomotive heading the ‘Jacobite, above Cuildarrach on the climb to Beasdale. A locomotive which never worked this line in the past. The loc. 76001 is actually 76079 from the ‘North Yorks Moor Railway.

K4, ‘The Great Marquis’ working hard as it storms up the ‘Beasdale Bank’. No.61994 was a regular workhorse on the West Highland Line. Specially designed in pre BR times for the Line it was formally numbered by the LNER as 3442.

A feature of this section of the line is the large stands of ancient Western Oak trees. Native remnants of the vast forests of oak which once clothed the hills on the west coast of Scotland. They may frustrate travellers who wish to view the scenery but for those who choose to travel by steam on the line, they will have the chance to admire the trees as they climb up through the woods with the sound of a hard working engine and the romantic sound of the engine’s whistle echoing round the surrounding mountains.

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